Final Days in Africa

Posted on March 15, 2015 by soldstone

Life at Vumbura Plains was pretty plush. There were lots of little touches that contributed. When we first arrived, we were asked during our orientation what drinks we preferred for sundowners. We said gin and tonic, please. Then they asked what sort of gin we’d like! Upon returning from each game drive we were greeted with a cool or warm (depending on the weather), moist, scented towel to wipe the dust from our faces and hands. The service was excellent. The kitchen produced delicious food and we enjoyed having some of our dinners and all of our lunches at private tables. Meals were less time structured than at Chitabe, which was relaxing. They had some delicious house roasted nuts at sundowners which we also found in the mini-bar in our room. In an effort to be more sustainable and cut down on the use of disposable plastic water bottles, Wilderness Safaris gives each guest a stainless steel water bottle to use during their stay, and of course to take home as a souvenir. As at Chitabe, all the buildings and walkways were raised off the ground, and the common areas looked out over the watery plain. The guest bathroom near the “lobby” also faced the view, which you could see quite easily from the throne since there was no wall on that side! The wildlife was everywhere. While being escorted after dark back to our room to freshen up for dinner one evening, our flashlights lit up a hippo grazing in the grass just below us. At night the sounds of the bush were everywhere, including right outside our tent.

On a couple of occasions the elephants made an appearance in camp during the day. Elephants are mezmerizing. They exude a sense of peace and a slow and steady rhythm in everything they do. It’s infectious. I was thrilled when one afternoon, as we were lazing about on our deck, I saw some elephants making their way along the camp heading towards us. They were eating and walking at a leisurely pace and soon they were right in front of us. Not only was it a fun photographic opportunity, but it was exciting to be so close to simply observe them.

Michael viewing the elephants from the comfort of our plunge pool!

Bath time!

The time of year we visited the Okavango Delta was not the wet season despite the fact that the rains were just starting. The wettest time is from June to August when the waters of the Okavango river flood the delta. There is water in parts of the Delta all year long, but when the floods come, it increases dramatically. Even though it was not flood season, we still travelled through water sometimes in the vehicles and you could get an idea of what it would be like with a lot more water.

Here are some more of the birds we saw.

Ground hornbill

African fish eagle

Hammerkop

Slaty egret

Helmeted guinea fowl or “bush chicken”

Marabou stork. He was hanging around the lions waiting for his turn at the kill.

One afternoon we watched a giraffe take a drink. That may not sound like much but it’s a bit of an ordeal for the giraffe. First, because they are very vulnerable with their heads down low, they are very cautious about where and when they drink. This giraffe was constantly looking around for predators. Also, because of their long necks and the blood pressure that builds up when their heads are down, they can’t stay in that position for long. So giraffes tend to take a drink, stand up, take another drink, stand up, etc. They also don’t lower or raise their heads very quickly because that might wreak havoc with their blood pressure as well. The giraffe doesn’t want to pass out because he stood up too quickly!

We saw more elephants on our game drives, including a mom and her baby and a big bull elephant who we watched methodically eating the bark off some branches.

Mom, looking to see if the coast is clear.

Baby peaks out

Grabbing branches

Here are some photos of the sausage tree which I described earlier. Salami anyone?!

On our last visit to see the lion family with their buffalo kill we saw them lounging and playing in a very peaceful scene. The cubs were so playful and tried to engage their uncle, who was really quite patient with them.

Starting to wake up

Everyone wants a good stretch

The cubs can't resist jumping their uncle

The cubs can’t resist jumping on their uncle

Taking a drink. She did this about 3 ft. from our vehicle.

All that was left of the carcass.

Here is an elephant that came into camp one morning just as we were getting ready to go out on our game drive. We are in the vehicle waiting until it is safe to drive off. It’s amazing that the elephants don’t do more damage to the structures, but they’re pretty good at avoiding them.

On our last game drive we saw a lovely herd of elephants with young in tow.

Notice the baby you can see through her legs.

I really loved the elephants and could have watched them for hours. Particularly pleasing were the low rumbling noises they made to communicate with each other. It was an incredible sound.

The view from our deck.

On our very last morning we opted not to get up at 5:30am and go out on a game drive. We had seen so much already and had a very long journey ahead. So instead, we slept in and packed our things, had brunch and said our farewells. We were driven to the airstrip around 11am to catch our plane to Maun. Here is the pane that took us there. It was the largest of the three we took around the Delta.

On the way to Maun, we stopped off at another camp to exchange a few passengers. Here are a few photos of the flight as well as one of Maun as we were coming in.

Maun

The tiny airport in Maun was crowded and hot as we waited for our flight to Johannesburg. We had retrieved the extra luggage left with Wilderness Safaris without incident and finally boarded the plane for an uneventful flight back to South Africa. During our layover in Jo’burg we managed to change into some clean clothes for our transatlantic flight and re-packed our bags a bit. We found our gate and boarded the plane for the 16+ hour trip to Atlanta. It was a long flight and a bit of a blur. We watched some movies, tried to sleep, and simply endured. In Atlanta we had plenty of time to catch our flight to Albuquerque, so there was no stress getting through customs, re-checking our bags onwards, and finding a proper breakfast. I think we slept some more on the flight to New Mexico and arrived in early afternoon after about 33 hours of travel. At that point we had to decide if we were going to make the 3 1/2 hour car journey to Durango or get a hotel room and rest up first. We decided to go for it and used our last burst of energy to drive home. Our dog was very happy to see us and our house sitter had kindly left a pot of soup on the stove. Whew! It was a relief to take a hot shower and relax after our travel marathon.

Long journeys by plane are always a bit surreal. Your body is confused about what time it is and you have the sense of being in limbo when you’re on the plane. It is always a bit of a miracle to arrive someplace knowing you woke up that morning somewhere else, very far away. The long journey to Africa was well worth it. What a fantastic time we had. I think about it all the time and try to remember the details and nuances of what we experienced. I’m so glad I have the photos to look over as a reminder, but they are not the whole of it. The sounds and smells and tastes and people are there too in my memory. Thanks for following along as I chronicled our journey. Your encouragement and support has been a real help. I’m not sure what’s on the horizon for my next adventure, but I’ll be sure to let you know.

Cheers!

Sarah

Chitabe Lions and Onwards

Posted on February 22, 2015 by soldstone

The weather was a mixed bag while we were at Chitabe Camp in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. We had expected it to be very hot but it really wasn’t so bad. In fact, while we were there, the rains started, so we had a few game drives where we pulled out the raincoats and ponchos. This cooled things down considerably so we never really felt scorched at any time. One morning after following the wild dogs for a while, we went off amidst drizzle and found lions. There was a male and two females who had eaten recently and were lazing about resting with full bellies. They were a bit muddy but otherwise didn’t seem too disturbed by the rain. The male had found himself a very small tree to act as a sort of umbrella for his head.

Waking up with a yawn

Cleaning time

Muddy girl

After we left these lions, the drizzle let up and not very far down the track we came across some more male lions, also lazing about.

There were other fun sights on our rainy game drive as well as the usual stop for tea. We even drove past a baby impala that had been “parked” by it’s mother in the remains of a dead tree. This is the preferred method of safe-keeping when they are too small to keep up with the adults. If baby stays very still, predators won’t see it.

A tsessebe

Gordon making tea

I think these might be pink-backed pelicans

Mom is probably in the background with the herd.

So cute! And he never moved.

After the game drive and breakfast on our last day at Chitabe, we were driven to the airstrip to meet a small plane that would fly us north to our next camp – Vumbura Plains. The plane was small but the weather was fine. Our pilot suggested he take the scenic route and fly up the river. It was fantastic! We had the best view of lots and lots of hippos, some with young, and elephants and other animals as we flew over the landscape. It was a smooth flight and when we landed at the Vumbura Plains airstrip, we were met, as per usual, by a cheerful staff member in a land rover.

Our plane coming in to pick us up.

Vumbura Plains is another Wilderness Safaris camp located in the northern part of the Okavango Delta in an area where both land and water based activities are available. There is more water than at Chitabe and the landscape was subtly different. Vumbura Plains was a step up from Chitabe in luxury which seems incredible, but there you have it. As at Chitabe, there was no WiFi or internet so I wrote a bit about our experience without posting. In my next installment I’ll post that passage and more pictures of this amazing place!

Chitabe In Pictures

Posted on February 15, 2015 by soldstone

At Chitabe camp in the Okavango Delta of Botswana we saw so much wonderful wildlife it’s hard to pick only a few photographs to post. There was a huge diversity of animals and birds and it seemed that new and exciting things were around every corner. One morning we came to a water hole where quite a few marabou storks had gathered along with egrets, white pelicans, herons, and other water loving fowl. There was a hippopotamus carcass nearby which probably accounted for the storks as they are scavengers. We also saw many living hippos at the water holes.

Marabou stork

It was the beginning of baby season in the bush and we saw beautiful wee creatures wobbling around after their mamas. In fact, we happened upon a wildebeest with her newborn calf mere seconds after she had given birth. We watched for about ten minutes as the baby struggled to stand up and take its first steps. That’s all the time it took before they were making their way back to the herd.

Piglets!

The whiskers on this young warthog are to fool predators into thinking he has big tusks!

Tsessebes with youngsters

Giraffes get darker as they age. This young one is quite light colored.

On the way back to camp one morning we heard a ruckus in the bushes next to the road. When we went to investigate it turned out there was a python moving about under a tree. A very brave dove was keeping an eye on things! When there is a snake nearby, birds and squirrels will make a lot of noise to let the others (and the snake) know it’s been spotted.

Another morning we spent some time trying to find some lions that had been spotted in a certain area. Having been unsuccessful in finding them and having nearly gotten stuck in the mud in the process, we were headed back to camp for breakfast when we just happened upon two leopards lying in the shade on a termite mound by the side of the road. How convenient! It was a mother and her son. They were panting from the heat and posed very obligingly for us.

We also saw more wild dogs at Chitabe. On the first occasion they were relaxing in the evening before rousing themselves and setting off on a hunt.

Play time

Setting off into the bush

The second time we saw them they had just gone for a cooling dunk in the mud at a waterhole and were settling in for a late morning nap. They looked very strange with the mud plastered over parts of their bodies!

There were many beautiful birds and we were able to see many of them enough times to start to learn their names.

Lilac breasted roller

One of my favorite birds. So colorful!

Ground hornbills

Grey louries, also called the go away bird because it makes a sound like someone saying "Go Away!"

Grey Go-Away-Birds so called because they make a sound like someone saying “Go Away!”

Crested barbet

Hammerkop

African fish eagle

Here are some pictures of our first Baobab tree. They are enormous, but not immune to the damage that elephants can do.

We also saw more leopards including a female lounging in a tree who decided to come down, and a young male cub also in a tree who was hanging out waiting for his family to come back.

When I first spotted this young guy he was watching us from the crook of a tree.

There were plenty of cape buffalo as well as elephants to provide us with exciting encounters.

I will leave you here with the spectacular sunrise we saw one morning. Next up will be lions and traveling to our next camp.

Ngala Safari Lodge

Posted on October 28, 2014 by soldstone

Ngala's accommodations were very nice. We had the front half of a duplex cottage. They were arranged so that you really weren't aware of the other half. I trust that was true for the other side as well. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom spacious. Though not as luxurious as Londolozi, it was delightful and far more than adequate. I really enjoyed the porch. Ours looked out across a grassy area toward the watering hole and the dining and lounging decks. The watering hole drew many visitors, most notably herds of buffalo who came to drink and warthogs that grazed on the grass. There were monkeys in the trees as well as squirrels, and a small antelope called a Duiker which grazed on the forest floor. Here are some pictures of our room and the camp.

#16

Baboon on the roof

Fever tree with green bark

Vervet monkey

At the watering hole

Duiker

The food at Ngala was also very good. We enjoyed the buffet at lunch time which always included some wonderful salads. It's hard when you are traveling to try to keep a handle on one's diet. At the safari lodges they feed you so often it's very easy to over indulge. And then when you are traveling elsewhere, you eat out a lot. So salads were appreciated.

Each night we had a different experience at Ngala. The first night we ate dinner in the courtyard. This was a walled area lit with lanterns. It was quite beautiful, but as we discovered, Ngala does a nice job with the ambiance for every meal. The second night we were treated to a bush dinner. On the way back from our evening game drive, in the dark, Bernard detoured to a clearing in the bush where the staff had set up a bush dinner for all the guests. The clearing was lit by lots and lots of lanterns and there were wood fired barbeque's in use cooking our food. From a distance you just saw twinkling lights appearing out of the bush. It was quite a feat to set up a full dinner service buffet in the middle of the bush and it was executed flawlessly. One can't fault the staff for the the flying beatles attracted to the lights. We were protected from the hyenas by armed guards who patrolled just on the edge of darkness. It all felt very safe.

On the next night we returned from the evening game drive to find a romantic, lantern lit table set up on our porch for a private dinner. Given served us and it really was quite nice. He had already provided our preferred beverages waiting for our arrival. Our last evening turned out to be a Boma dinner. This was another enclosure off the main dining area and Bernard joined us for dinner. With a fire pit going and another buffet it was yet another lantern lit feast.

Our romantic dinner

Ngala has a nice pool which we used one afternoon. There were lovely chaise longues and umbrellas, bottled water and towels, all provided. Michael went over a bit sooner than I and he said an entire family of warthogs paraded past the pool before I arrived, one after the other like a little train. I enjoyed seeing them later on the grass by the watering hole. The warthogs kneel on their front legs while they root around in the dirt and grass with their bottoms sticking up in the air. They move around on their knees without getting up while they're doing this. A lot of times the most common view of the wildlife is from the backside, so I decided to start a collection of “African bum shots”. I'm working on photographing the backsides of as many animals as I can. The warthogs are quite obliging with this.

Warthogs!

The people at Ngala were uniformly friendly and some of the most genuine and warm people we've met. Given, our butler, was always smiling. Mama Connie, whose official function I'm not quite sure of, was always making sure people were happy and cared for. The Rangers were all professional, polite, and eager to please. I would highly recommend Ngala Safari Lodge for a wonderful experience with superb game viewing. Their standards are vey high.

On the Trail of the Elusive Leopard – part 4

Posted on October 22, 2014 by soldstone

After getting our fill we left the leopard in peace and moved off through the bush to find a suitable spot to have a cup of tea or coffee. On the way through the bush we saw a Verreaux's Giant Eagle-Owl sitting in a tree. It had bright pink eyelids which you could see when it blinked! The light was very dim so my picture is not the best but you can see the pink eyelids.

These game drives are quite civilized as they always stop along the way to offer refreshment. Out comes a small table and table cloth, cups, drinks, and snacks. In the morning it's tea or coffee or hot chocolate with cookies or rusks. Rusks are a sort of homemade thick granola bar–very tasty!

The rest of our game drive that morning brought more birds such as the African Dipper, and the Violet-backed Starling. We also had a wonderful time observing some giraffes and saw warthogs and more rhino. By the time we got back to the lodge for breakfast it was at least 10 o'clock. Breakfast was phenomenal followed by a bit of rest and then a late light lunch. Pretty soon we were gathering back for tea and to get ready for the evening game drive. It's a grueling pace of sleep, eat, game drive, eat, nap, eat, rest, eat, game drive, eat, sleep. In the next post I'll give an account of the unexpected events on our very exciting late afternoon game drive, so stay tuned.